Is Gluten-Free Trendy?

I just read a friend's post on Facebook. She said she brought 6 loaves of bread to a potluck and most of the women mentioned that they couldn't eat gluten. Some of her friends commented that gluten seems to be a trend. Are people really going gluten free who don't actually have to?

Four years ago when I was still relatively new to the gluten-free concept, and somewhat resistant to it (this was before I knew that gluten was the reason my body was attacking itself, and before I passed out on an airplane after eating a donut because I thought a little gluten wouldn't really hurt me, and before I had a seizure at work and spent the day at the hospital undergoing tests) I joined some girlfriends at a local restaurant. I chose the restaurant because it's the only one in Anchorage I trusted, and it's the only one I still trust, to serve food that is totally free of gluten and not likely to be contaminated. I mentioned that I didn't eat gluten and one girl responded "Oh, I don't eat wheat." and continued to explain how her naturopath had suggested she cut wheat out of her diet, and she's felt so much better since doing so.

But then we ordered our food. And the girl who said she didn't eat wheat ordered angel hair pasta with lemon pesto.

This was my first experience with someone who says they don't eat wheat or gluten, but who is apparently not fully committed, probably because they don't really have to avoid it. If they understood why some of us don't eat wheat or gluten, they would not take this lightly. If they couldn't sleep at night because their legs were restless. If they woke up every morning and could barely get out of bed because their joints were so swollen. If they had panic attacks. If their stomach bloated like a balloon every time they put food in their mouth. If their life span was expected to be as much as 75% shorter as a result of eating gluten.

My experience is that someone who can't eat gluten for a real medical condition is doing so not because they want to or because it's trendy, but because their life depends on it. Someone who casually says she doesn't eat wheat but then orders a meal comprised almost entirely of wheat and gluten is avoiding wheat only when she thinks it's the trendy thing to do.

Improvising

Someday, I hope to spend a couple of hours each weekend planning my menus, doing all my shopping, and preparing ahead most, if not all, of my meals for the week. What's been happening instead is that I spend the weekend catching up on sleep, doing laundry, playing the piano, squeezing in a too-short hike with the dog and husband, and starting but not finishing some house de-cluttering project. Come Monday morning, we're running low on just about everything, and I find myself scrounging to put together a breakfast with adequate protein (which is very hard to do when you can't eat eggs, are out of turkey sausage, and dislike the taste of your protein powder). By the end of the day, the situation has only gotten worse. I've been in meetings all day, skipped lunch, and since breakfast have only eaten an apple, a few pistachio nuts, and the raw cabbage I grabbed on my way out the door that morning. I'm starving, but also too tired to brave the post-work crowds at the grocery store. So, I head home and see what I can create from the scraps we have left in our cupboards and 'fridge.

Most nights like this I would opt for an old stand-by, like a bean quesadilla, using ingredients we almost always have in stock (commercial salsa, brown rice tortillas, and canned refried beans). But, I knew we had some kale that wasn't going to last much longer, and I was craving pasta (yep, that time of the month), so on a whim I decided to try making pesto with kale.

What I did:

1. Chopped up the kale, and steamed it just until it wilted.
2. Chopped 5 cloves of garlic.
3. Tossed the kale and garlic into a food processor and blended. It looked a little dry, so I added some olive oil and blended until it was the consistency of chunky pesto.
4. Cooked some rice noodles.
5. Stirred the "pesto" into the noodles, drizzled a bit more olive oil on top, added some hemp seed oil and Himalayan sea salt.

Voila! Kale pesto.

How was it? Next time I'll cut way back on the garlic. Then again, I'm a garlic lover, and the garlic was probably what made it taste so good. And there's the added bonus that garlic is a natural anti-fungal, which is good for my gut. So, all in all, I'd say it was an excellent improvisation that I'll make again.